The islands extend north- south for some 4. Y shape. The Torres Islands are the northernmost group. Southward from the Torres group, the main islands are Vanua Lava and Santa Maria (Gaua) in the Banks Islands group, Espiritu Santo, Aoba (Ambae), Ma. Some 2. 00 miles (3. Anatom, two uninhabited islands, Hunter and Matthew, are claimed by both Vanuatu and France (as part of New Caledonia). ![]() Formerly the jointly administered Anglo- French condominium of the New Hebrides, Vanuatu achieved independence in 1. The name Vanuatu means “Our Land Forever” in many of the locally used Melanesian languages.
![]() Subsistence agriculture has traditionally been the economic base of Vanuatu, together with an elaborate exchange network within and between islands. Companies that continue to base their manufacturing strategies solely on China’s rock-bottom wages and stratospheric domestic growth rates are in for a rude. The capital, largest city, and commercial centre is Port- Vila (Vila), on . Sedimentary and coral limestones and volcanic rock predominate; frequent earthquakes indicate structural instability. Active volcanoes are found on several islands, including S. There are also several submarine volcanoes in the group, and some islands have solfataras or fumaroles. The highest point is Tabw. There are two seasons—hot and wet from November to April, and cooler and drier from May to October. The southeast trades are the prevailing winds, although northerlies during the hot season provide most of the heavy rainfall. Capitalism How Finance Behaves like a Parasite Toward the Economy Economist Michael Hudson explains financial parasitism. The various techniques presented here include the estimation of demand curves and the area beneath them, analysis of market-like transactions, use of production. Annual precipitation varies from about 8. Much of the group is covered by dense rain forest, but drier regions have patches of savanna grassland. Abundant bird and insect life contrasts with the sparse fauna. Of the approximately 1. Vanuatu, three are found only there. People. The indigenous population, called ni- Vanuatu, is overwhelmingly Melanesian, though some of the outlying islands have Polynesian populations. There are also small minorities of Europeans, Micronesians, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Roughly three- fourths of the population lives in rural areas, but since independence the urban centres of Luganville and Port- Vila have drawn a significant number of people attracted by better opportunities. More than 1. 00 local Melanesian languages and dialects are spoken; Bislama, an English- based Melanesian pidgin, is the national language and, along with English and French, is one of three official languages. Test Your Knowledge. Human Health: Fact or Fiction? Some two- thirds of the population is Protestant, and of that proportion about half is Presbyterian. Other denominations and religions include Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism, traditional beliefs, and cargo cults. Economy. Subsistence agriculture has traditionally been the economic base of Vanuatu, together with an elaborate exchange network within and between islands. Economic changes occurred with the development of European plantations in the island group after 1. Cattle ranching was instituted later. By the 1. 88. 0s French planters had reversed the initial British domination of the plantation sector, though they too found it increasingly difficult to compete with ni- Vanuatu producers, who could fall back on subsistence agriculture in times of economic downturn. French hopes of economic hegemony, based on high world prices for copra and the importation of Vietnamese labour in the 1. Great Depression of the 1. By 1. 94. 8 most of the copra in the island group was being produced by the ni- Vanuatu themselves, though it was not until the development of cooperatives in the 1. Kava, beef, copra, timber, and cocoa are the most important exports; Australia, New Caledonia, Japan, and New Zealand are the main export destinations. Imports—mainly of machinery and transport equipment, food and live animals, and mineral fuels—come principally from Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, and Fiji. Because of its vulnerability to weather and commodity market fluctuations, Vanuatu is working toward supplementing large- scale agriculture with stronger extractive, manufacturing, and service sectors to foster its long- term economic growth. Since independence, Vanuatu’s tourism and offshore financial services have emerged as the largest earners of foreign income. The growing lucre generated by tourism has attracted the attention of foreign companies seeking to develop land into resorts and other attractions. Although, according to the 1. Vanuatu is under ni- Vanuatu customary collective ownership and cannot be sold to foreigners, increasing interest from abroad in the late 2. Such leases were often negotiated to the disadvantage of ni- Vanuatu, however; many included, for example, a provision that, at the end of the 7. In the early 2. 1st century there was concern that such provisions would mean the permanent alienation of customarily owned lands. Forestry, important in the islands’ early colonial history but later eclipsed by plantation agriculture, has also grown in importance. Much of the country is forested (including areas of sandalwood and other valuable tropical species). Because the majority of trees felled during the 1. Earnings from processed wood (mostly sawn on small portable mills) grew as a result, and wood products accounted for a small but significant proportion of exports in the early 2. The sale of commercial fishing rights is another important source of foreign revenue, and there is extensive small- scale fishing for local consumption. Mining of manganese ore on . Interisland transportation is by boat or airplane. Major airports are located near Port- Vila, near Luganville on Espiritu Santo, and on the northwest side of Tanna. Many smaller airfields are scattered throughout the islands. Government and society. Under the terms of the 1. Parliament and the presidents of the Regional Councils. Members of Parliament are elected to four- year terms on the basis of universal franchise. Parliament elects the chief executive, the prime minister, from among its members; the prime minister then appoints a Council of Ministers. The constitution also provides for a National Council of Chiefs (Malvatumauri), composed of elected “custom chiefs,” which advises the government on matters relating to custom and tradition. Provincial authorities are responsible for local governmental functions. The Supreme Court is the ultimate judicial arbiter of both civil and criminal matters. There are also a court of appeal and magistrates’ courts, and island courts may be established by warrant to rule on land disputes. Since independence, defense has been provided through a pact with Papua New Guinea. Vanuatu has no regular military, but the country’s police force operates a domestic paramilitary unit, the Vanuatu Mobile Force. Health care in Vanuatu consists of a main hospital in Vila supplemented by smaller hospitals, clinics, and dispensaries on the other islands. Malaria, tuberculosis, hookworm, and gastroenteritis are the most common diseases. Although attempts have been made since independence to institute a single, English- speaking education system, ongoing economic aid from France for the maintenance of the Francophone school system has ensured that about half of ni- Vanuatu children receive French- language instruction. Education is free and compulsory for ages 6 to 1. Vanuatu children undertake postprimary education. The country’s school attendance and adult literacy rates are among the lowest in the Pacific, a situation exacerbated by rapid population growth, the distance between settlements, and a shortage of teachers and classrooms in remote areas. The University of the South Pacific’s Emalus Campus at Port- Vila (opened in 1. Suva, Fiji. A small number of ni- Vanuatu pursue higher education in Papua New Guinea or in France. Cultural life. The overwhelming majority of ni- Vanuatu are subsistence agriculturalists, living in small rural villages where activities revolve around the land. The constitution guarantees that land cannot be alienated from its “indigenous custom owners,” or traditional owners, and their descendants. More than an economic resource, land is the physical embodiment of the metaphysical link with the past, and identification with a particular tract of land (expressed by the Bislama phrase man ples) remains one of the fundamental concepts governing ni- Vanuatu culture, although foreign developers have gained control over some land through long- term leases. On many islands, men gather nightly at their local nakamal (men’s house) to drink kava and communicate with the spirits of their ancestors, whose bones typically are buried nearby. Through magic stones, they attempt to contact and control the spiritual realm they view as all- pervasive. Among the vast majority of rural dwellers, kastom (custom), along with Christianity, continues to guide daily life. History. Archaeological evidence indicates that, by 1. Vanuatu had been settled by people of the Lapita culture from Melanesian islands to the west. Since then, there have been successive waves of migrants, including people of Polynesian origin on the southern islands of Aniwa and Futuna (not to be confused with Futuna Island in the French overseas collectivity of Wallis and Futuna). About 1. 20. 0 a highly stratified society developed in central Vanuatu with the arrival (from the south, according to tradition) of the great chief Roy Mata (or Roymata). His death was marked by an elaborate ritual that included the burying alive of one man and one woman from each of the clans under his influence. European contact began with the Portuguese explorer Pedro Fern. Cook mapped the island group and named it the New Hebrides. European missionaries and sandalwood traders settled on the fringes of islands from the 1. Significant cultural change occurred only after the 1. Vanuatu men and women who had been indentured to work on plantations in Fiji and New Caledonia and in Queensland, Australia, began to return to their homes. Many established new forms of political influence within the network of Protestant (mainly Presbyterian) missions or successfully competed against European traders and planters in the group. To protect the interests of the mainly British missionaries and mainly French planters, the British and French governments established rudimentary political control with a Joint Naval Commission in 1.
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